Blinded

Fear is an emotion that makes us blind.
How many things are we afraid of?
We're afraid to turn off the lights when our hands are wet.
We're afraid to stick a knife into the toaster
to get the stuck English muffin without unplugging it first.
We're afraid of what the doctor may tell
us when the physical exam is over;
when the airplane suddenly takes a great unearthly lurch in midair.
We're afraid that the oil may run out,
that the good air will run out, the good water, the good life.
When the daughter promised to be in by eleven
and it's now quarter past twelve
and sleet is spatting against the window like dry sand,
we sit and pretend to watch Johnny Carson
and look occasionally at the mute telephone
and we feel the emotion that makes us blind,
the emotion that makes a stealthy ruin of the thinking process.

                          Stephen King, Night Shift